Charities
The Sanctuary for Kids Promise
January, 2013
The charities which Sanctuary for Kids supports have been very carefully chosen. Part of our selection process includes determining which organizations will benefit significantly from the marketing boost that comes from S4K and our connections. We like the little guy! We ensure through our auctions and online giving that 100% of the money donated goes directly to the children and the programs that support them.
Since its inception in November 2009, S4K has raised over $450,000. Over 60% of funds are dispersed each year to our charities. The rest is invested in a capital fund to ensure that we can maintain our commitments to our children.
Work at Home
Work in Nepal
Nepal Orphans Home
Asha Nepal
Next Generation Nepal
Support in Haiti
Crisis Relief, 2011
Work at Home: Watari’s Transitioning to Independence Program(TTIP) and the Transitioning to Independence Program for Parenting Youth (TIPPY)
January, 2013- These two programs work with the homeless youth population in Vancouver, BC. The goal of each of the programs is to assist youth, 16 - 24, to master skills required to maintain market housing while supporting them to continue to receive support for mental health/substance misuse. By removing the barrier of homelessness youth can put energy and focus towards other life areas such as educational, vocational and social goals. The purpose of TTIP is to provide 20 units of supported independent living for youth with addiction and or mental health issues. It is a transitional housing program with an expected stay of 18 months. The program consists of two components a rental supplement to enable youth to rent safe market housing and support services from a housing worker. It was the success of the program that allowed for TIPPY to be established, with 10 additional subsidies for pregnant and parenting homeless youth.
Currently it is difficult for youth with mental health or substance misuse to find and maintain safe, affordable housing. Our initiative tackles several crucial elements that addresses gaps in service. This approach allows youth to access treatment or family support while maintaining their housing. Sanctuary for Kids provides starter kits to help each individual and family set up their homes.
In addition, we also provide a transportation fund. Transportation is a huge barrier for the youth and we are working to make that a non-issue for them. Bus tickets to jobs and training programs, cab fares when necessary- these make a world of difference. Sometimes our funding goes to other barriers to employment such as tools, boots, and training programs. Sometimes these seemingly little things make all the difference for a person to move forward in their lives.
Work in Nepal
While visiting Nepal we were so moved by every Nepali person that we met, full of open-heartedness and grace. As we left, we were struck by the feeling that we had benefited more than they had from our exchanges.
Sadly, and in stark contrast, Nepal is a country of great poverty, and as such, is a breeding ground for child trafficking for the purposes of indentured servitude, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, child labour, and begging. Sanctuary for Kids supports three agencies in Nepal that are doing meaningful work with children who are victims of these human rights abuses.
Nepal Orphans Home
December, 2012- We have recently contributed to the purchase and installation of solar lights for the kitchen and common study rooms as well as select bedrooms and halls in each of the five homes at Nepal Orphans Home. With electrical outages lasting up to 19 hours per day until monsoon season begins, this allows light to cook and study by during the dark winter months. We continue to contribute to upgrading the diet of the children at NOH. Since starting this infusion two years ago, the obvious benefits of increased energy and less illness have made it a priority in the budget. Michael has recently begun cooking a "western style" meal each week for each house. While this is a fun treat for the children, it also is a well-balanced meal for all. Sanctuary for Kids will be purchasing supplies and providing salaries so that children can participate in extra-curricular music and art at NOH. To initiate such a program has been a long term goal, and we will write about its implementaion later in the year!
Over the past few years, we have donated funds to date which have allowed the orphanage to open Gumba House (which means “Sanctuary”) and reunite seven sets of sisters who had been sold by their parents due to poverty. In addition, we have set up the Sanctuary for Kids NOH Capital Fund. Nepal Orphans home has plans to build its own campus which will house and educate the children. (Buildings are currently leased). We have contributed $100 000 to the first home to be built on this campus. NOH has been working to purchase land which to achieve this goal. This a slow process in Nepal but we have hopes to make it a reality soon.
Established in 2005, Nepal Orphans Home attends to the welfare of children in Nepal who are orphaned, abandoned, or not supported by their parents. The foundation currently cares for 150 children in 4 separate homes, each of which are known as Papa's House. Many of these children have been removed from situations where they had been sold into indentured servitude.
Papa’s House provides for the children’s basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing, as well as schooling and health care, and administers to their emotional needs with love and compassion. Papa’s House allows children to grow up in a nurturing environment. The mission of Nepal Orphans Home is not just to rescue children from abject poverty, but to enable the children to develop and realize their potentials.
Asha Nepal
December, 2012- Sanctuary for Kids continues to educate 19 children at Asha Nepal’s children’s home in Kathmandu.
Asha Nepal is a UK-registered charity working for the rights of women and girls in Nepal. Asha is the Nepali word for hope. Asha supports, houses and rehabilitates girls and young women who have been victims of sex trafficking, sexual and physical abuse, child labour, and discrimination due to gender, caste and HIV/Aids. With Nepali partner organizations, Asha provides a community in the form ofpsycho-social support, healthcare, legal support, education and training, to help women and girls to become self-sufficient and fully re-integrate into society.
Next Generation Nepal
December 2012- This year Sanctuary for Kids is helping to support Next Generation Nepal’s Empowerment Program. This program provides education, mentoring and independent housing to older youth of NGN's programs so that they can transition to independence.
Next Generation Nepal supports children who were sold to traffickers during the civil war under the false belief that they were being saved from conscription into the Maoist army. Next Generation Nepal preserves family unity and strengthens communities by reconnecting trafficked children with their parents and culture in post-conflict Nepal by:
- Searching remote regions to find families of children who were taken by child traffickers with false promises of safety and education.
- Reconnecting these children with their families by facilitating regular communications and visits.
- Caring for children in transitional homes that offer safety and security during the reconnection process.
Support in Haiti
Sanctuary for Kids began work in Haiti in 2010 right after the earthquake, with support to Save the Children and the Miriam Centre. More than a year has passed and the situation remains critical. More than a million people are still living amid rubble, in emergency camps, in abject poverty; cholera, meanwhile, has claimed thousands of lives. As time passes, what began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community. Official commitments have not been honoured; only a minuscule portion of what was promised has been paid out. The Haitian people feel abandoned and disheartened by the slowness with which rebuilding is taking place. We are committed to helping them in their most critical time of need, and have forged relationship a solid relationship with SOPUDEP.
SOPUDEP
December, 2012- Sanctuary for Kids continues to support the teachers that make up the backbone of this community organization. Our support pays teachers and additional staff for over three months. This is one of the most challenging budget items and obviously one of the most crucial. Many of the teachers have worked without pay as the school was being established and are currently underpaid in a country where families make less than $2/day.
SOPUDEP was founded in 1996 by Rea Dol, a Haitian educator who began an adult literacy program in 2000. She is a gifted leader and as need increased, so did her education programs. SOPUDEP's premiere K-12 school, Institution Mixte de SOPUDEP, currently provides free education for over 600 students who otherwise would never have an opportunity for an education. It stands out as a privately funded school in that it charges students a minimal fee, but this is waived if it cannot be paid. The importance of free education to a child in Haiti is sometimes hard for us to understand, as for most of us, free education is the norm. SOPUDEP is able to do away with mandatory tuitions for its students by putting its international support toward paying it's dedicated all Haitian teaching staff.
The school also provide a hot lunch to over 700 people five days a week, including staff and other members of the community- for many this is their only full meal they will recieve. It continues to provide adult literacy courses to women and provides micro-financing, training and support so that they can support themselves. It has also brought in two other schools under their umbrella to support through a similar model. In addition, a post secondary scholarship fund for SOPUDEP's top students began in 2011. See current footage from Ryan Sawatzky's trip to Haiti in November, 2012 and hear Rea Dol speak about her community.
Past Work in Haiti
Phoenix Vision Society
Operating since 2010, the relatively new Phoenix Vision Society aims to help women and their families with their basic needs through training, micro-financing, building of community gardens, with plans to expand to housing and schooling. Co-ordinated and headed by Canadian, Remi Thivierge, a gifted trauma counsellor, one of the goals of the program is to achieve success in this by also helping individuals and groups to deal with their trauma so that they are not paralysed out of helping themselves. These women have on average 3 children each.
Currently the society is providing micro loans and training to 20 women, with plans to expand to 50 through the summer. A community garden as been established and is being maintained to grow food in camp Canaan 2, outside Port-Au-Prince. Trauma support is being provided to over 200 people living in three separate areas with plans to provide trauma reduction training to Haitian facilitators so that up to 800 people per month could receive this support. Sanctuary for Kids is funding the initial costs of this facilitator training. In addition, we are funding the construction of a multi-purpose adobe building. It will be highly earthquake resistant, and will be used as a school, a service centre for orphans, a training facility and a community gathering place. Our contribution has also allowed for a matching donation of $25000 to come through for the society.
Sanctuary for Kids has contributed to the rebuilding of the Miriam Centre in Haiti. This is one of the only facilities in the country which houses, educates and loves Haitian children with cerebral palsy, severe autism, and other major life challenges. The new centre will increase its current capacity of 30 to 100 residents. Children born with special needs in Haiti are thought to be cursed and are treated as such. There are no government or social rehabilitative sevices for them in rural areas of the country.
Through Save the Children, Sanctuary for Kids sent $30000 in crisis aid to Haiti in 2010. In addition, it established two of eight temporary health dispensaries in the commune of Leogane. The temporary dispensaries give people in these areas access to primary health care and will provide employment for 20 youth hired to build the units. This project’s health activities benefit nearly 35,000 children living in mountainous areas where distances to the main hospital in Leogane town can be almost unattainable.
Lee Celano, Getty Images for Save the Children
Lee Celano, Getty Images for Save the Children
Crisis Relief, 2011
Sanctuary for Kids contributed $10000 in crisis aid to Somalia with Canadian government matching. This money has gone to a project for cash grants and livelihood asset protection in Ishkhufban, Puntland, Somalia. This Save the Children project targets households with malnourished children and elderly or single headed households with children who are considered “at risk” of malnutrition. The project, which will take place in the area of Ishkhufban, Somalia, is designed to protect the food and health needs of beneficiaries as well as improve their long term livelihood prospects by: i) Providing cash grants to identified vulnerable households (at an amount that will allow them to buy necessary food staples including rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil, water, etc.); and ii) Providing animal health interventions, including de-worming and fodder production (to support livelihood recovery and resiliency).
Rachel Palmer, Save the Children
Norta Omar, 26 with her youngest child Faisal Kasim, two (orange stripey shirt and two other children Asha Olat, 9 (left) and Abrahim Kasim, 7, (right). Norta left south central Somalia after her 100 goats and 50 cattle had died. She is currently staying with a host family in New Shabelle camp for internally displaced people in Bosaso, Puntland. Save the Children runs five Outpatient Therapeutic Programs in Bosaso and 15 supplementary feeding programs.
